Menu

Transitioning to a new school

The first time I came to ECU was after I had gotten accepted and had already decided that this is where I was transferring to. Let me tell you that I was lost immediately.

Now let me preface this by saying that the school I transferred from was relatively small. Meaning that I could stand in our quad and see the majority of the buildings in one turn. So coming here, while it’s not a huge school, was pretty new to me. Not only was I moving from the New England to the South, but I was also going from a relatively small college to a bigger university with two campuses. During the drive around the campus I was wondering how I was ever going to find my way around this school and was 15 minutes really enough time to get from one class to another? Did people run to their classes then?

After we drove around both campuses and the sports complexes I was pretty impressed with the school. I worried about my first day but my friend told me that everyone was really friendly and that if I got lost I could ask just about anyone where to go and they would help me out. Even after that though I was still skeptical about my first day. My first day came and went and I was that person with the map wondering where all of my classes were. I stopped people and asked them how to get to such and such building and my friend was right, everyone I asked was more than willing to point me in the right direction. I made it through my first two days without getting super lost (I did however show up 20 minutes late to a 50 minute class in Brewster because I couldn’t find the right classroom) and I realized that after a walk or two around the campus it really wasn’t that bad. I look back at that time now and laugh at myself for being so worried. After giving countless tours and telling many families that yes 15 minutes is more than enough time to get to your next class, and yes people are super friendly and will help you out, I feel like I could walk this campus in my sleep. I love watching the transformation of students the first couple of days of classes and seeing them go from panicked newbies to calm, cool and collected pros at navigating the campus.

Sometimes I really miss giving tours and showing families and students around our beautiful campus.